That does it. The fortress runs on Rythar’s control. One crack in that image, and everyone feels it. The composure on the Ex O’s face slips.
“Wait here,” Drenz says, then keys his comm.
I hover at the threshold, hands balled tight. I scan every angle, every reflection in the polished black walls. I expect Drenz to return with Rythar, forcing me to face the lie I just smeared him with. Instead, he comes back alone, my New Terran medkit in hand.
He thrusts it at me, eyes down. "Rythar gave orders to return this to you once you were settled in," he mutters. I take it, clutching it to my chest. The lie about Rythar sits sour in my throat. He didn't earn that one. But I need the medkit for Sophia.
He clears his throat, voice dropping. “Do you wish assistance to administer?—”
“No.” I force steel into my tone. “It’s private. Female. I need to do it myself.”
The Ex O averts his eyes. “Of course.” He opens a nearby door. “This room is suitable. I will wait here, and then escort you back to the mating chamber.”
I don’t have to fake the distress I’m feeling. “No. I’m not removing clothing with you one door away. You have to give me a lot more privacy,” I whisper. The words come easily because I’m not lying this time. I need Drenz as far away as possible. He’s the only other one of these alien males who’s dared get near me without Rythar breathing down my neck.
Drenz frowns, but he agrees to wait behind the door at the end of the corridor.
The urge to cry is there, but I don’t let it surface. Instead, I focus on breathing.
I count to ten, then slip back into the corridor. I move fast, making a few wrong turns and having to double back. At every turn, I expect to see Rythar’s silhouette, filling the hall, waiting for me with those hungry eyes.
But he’s not there.
A last door opens into darkness.
Shit. It had to be night.
My only hope is to make it back to the Stone, somehow, before they catch up with me. A catwalk bridges to the outer wall, where a stair spirals down to the jungle floor. I take the steps two at a time, never looking back, and exit through a small side gate.
The shield buzzes over my skin as I step out, and the night air is alive with the sounds of a thousand animals. The jungle looms, dense. I freeze, scanning for movement, for eyes shining back at me, for anything.
I know I should hide. I know the wild is full of things that are far worse than rats. I know this is stupid. Rythar warned me the oil would make me reckless. But this is a recklessness I need. I’ll stay on the pathway. I’ll get back to the Stone and tell it that I need to find Sophia. I’ll promise it anything.Anything, if it will keep the rest of my friends safe. So I push into the trees, leaves slapping my face.
The forest looms around the pathway. It’s dimly lit by glowing flowers that have opened in the night. It would be breathtakingly beautiful on a peaceful evening. One where I wasn’t making a desperate dash into an alien jungle. Alone.
I remind myself of Sophia’s panic. Of every promise I made to fight for us. I stumble, catching myself on a root, scratchingmyself on some bark. Somewhere above, a bird shrieks, and I flinch, expecting claws at my back. But I’m fine. I’m okay.
I run as fast as I dare in the dim light. The tunnels of New Terra felt safer than this. At least then, I knew what I was dealing with. Here, attack could come from any direction, and I have no idea what I could be dealing with. I just have to get to the Stone, then to Sophia. If the Stone won’t connect me to her, I’ll head back to the crash site. If I can find it.
I hear something above me and freeze. I try to slow my breathing, but my heart’s in overdrive.
I look up and see a snake, iridescent emerald, hanging motionless from a branch. It doesn’t have eyes or a mouth, though?—
That’s when the jungle erupts.
A huge, catlike animal with a serpent’s tail bursts from the shadows, teeth bared, claws extended. Its eyes are yellow and red, slit-pupiled, and it moves so fast the world blurs.
Time stretches.
A loud roar splits the night.
Rythar crashes through the brush at a dead sprint, sword in hand, face locked in rage. He launches himself at the beast before it can reach me.
The thing is a better fighter than Vorak’s men. Rythar’s sword cleaves the beast in half, but he’s watching me instead of the kill. The back half of the beast wraps its tail around his body as the front half lunges forward, skimming Rythar’s forearm with its fangs. Rythar drives his fist into the thing’s eye and cuts it apart.
Blood spatters the leaves, and the animal’s two halves are twitching on the ground.
Rythar staggers, dropping to one knee. I scan him quickly, trying to find the bloom of blood, the wound I didn’t see.
